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NOTRE DAME, IND. - Senior Maria Lubrano scored with less than six minutes to
play Sunday afternoon to lift 19th-ranked North Carolina to a 1-0
victory over Notre Dame at Alumni Stadium before a crowd of 1,925. The victory gave the Tar Heels the team title
of the 2012 Notre Dame adidas Invitational.
This marks the third time Carolina has won the tournament title. It also won the championship in 1999 and
2009.

Freshman
forward Summer Green was named the tournament's Offensive Most Valuable Player
after she had a goal and two assists in weekend wins over Connecticut 2-0 and
the Fighting Irish 1-0. Senior
midfielder Amber Brooks won Defensive Most Valuable Player honors in leading
Carolina to a pair of shutout wins. The
Tar Heels have now posted clean sheets in succession against Florida,
Connecticut and Notre Dame. Andi
Tostanoski of Santa Clara was named the winner of the Golden Glove as the
tournament's outstanding goalkeeper. She
had nine saves in the earlier game on Sunday as Santa Clara and Connecticut
battled to a 1-1 tie after two overtime periods.

In addition
to Green and Brooks other Tar Heels on the All-Tournament Team were sophomore
defender Satara Murray and senior midfielder Ranee Premji.

The Tar
Heels dominated Sunday's game statistically, outshooting the Fighting Irish
18-3, including a 12-0 margin in the second half of the game. Elyse Hight made seven saves in goal to keep
the Tar Heels at bay until the game's 85th minute when Maria Lubrano
finished a brilliant service by Green, going top shelf from the six-yard line
past a helpless Hight. Brooke Elby, who
scored the insurance goal in Friday's win over UConn, sent a through ball to
Green, who dribbled past a pair of defenders to the end line, gingerly keeping
the ball in play before sending the finishing touch to the onrushing Lubrano,
who had barely missed on a golden chance four minutes prior to the Tar Heel
goal.

The Tar
Heels then buckled down on defense and ran out the clock to improve to 2-1-1 on
the campaign. The Fighting Irish saw
their three-game winning streak stopped and fell to 3-2.

UNC limited
Notre Dame to three shots in the game, none of which were on goal. The Tar Heels also finished with a 6-2 edge
in corner kicks.

Carolina
had the best opportunity to score in the opening half. Summer Green's shot from close range hit the
left post in just the second minute of the contest. Then in the 20th minute Green had
another excellent opportunity as her shot was headed into the upper left corner
before Elyse Hight knocked it over the bar for a corner kick. The best Fighting Irish chance of the game
came at the 40:28 mark of the first half when Elizabeth Tucker broke open in
the box before her shot was snuffed out at the last second by UNC defender
Satara Murray.

Neither
team had a shot in the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Tar Heels
started to control the run of play. Meg
Morris had successive shots that were saved by Hight in the 56th and
57th minutes. A little over a
minute later, Alyssa Rich had a nice shot on a half volley that Hight grabbed
out of the air at the 57:37 mark. In the
65th minute, Paige Nielsen had a shot from the right side of the box
that Hight made a diving save on.
Lubrano almost gave the Tar Heels the lead in the 81st minute
when she took a pass from Green and pivoted in the box but sent her volley into
the side of the net from eight yards.
Just minutes later, however, Lubrano finished off the scoring chance to
lift the Tar Heels to their second successive win over the Fighting Irish. UNC remained unbeaten against the Irish in
South Bend, with only a tie in the 1997 game marring the Tar Heel ledger in
Indiana. Carolina is now 14-5-2 all-time
against Notre Dame.

UNC
will return to the pitch next Friday when it plays Marquette in the 2012 Duke
Nike Classic at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. Game time is 5 p.m. Duke will play San Diego at 7:30 p.m. The opponents are switched next Sunday as
Carolina meets San Diego at 11 a.m. and Duke plays Marquette at 1:30 p.m.